I would like to give this one 3.5 stars, but I can't...

It's pretty good, and has some really insane ideas. I like books that just grab an insane idea and run with it. This one has a couple: a guy with a small universe instead of hair, a floating house that's much bigger on the inside, a ghost baby with too many arms and legs, more ghosts...

However, there's also some problems. I'm always a bit weary if an author writes something that is completely out of their culture. It actually wet quite well for Catherynne Valente's Deathless, but it's something I always have doubt about. It's something you don't really have the "right" to do and to appropriate somebody else's culture and beliefs. That might not be the most fitting word to describe what I mean, but it's the only one I got. I wouldn't want a foreigner to write about what it's like to be a Luxembourger, and we're quite straightforward people. If your people, however, have a background on a different continent, and a troubled history, how much into that can an outsider get?
Here, we have a writer with Russian roots trying to slip into the shoes of a daughter of African parents, and I was never quite sure how "real" she was.

I would also have liked to get more explanations and background on Felix. He's a bit of a deus ex machina character, as he doesn't really do much more than literally pulling solutions out of his hair. He could have done with a bit more personality.

Although I liked the insane ideas, I always had the feeling that the story wasn't there just for its own sake, but that there was always a load of symbolism and "important human and ecological messages stuff" lurking beneath the surface. Maybe it has a bit too much pretense at being "real serious literature" instead of just wanting to tell a good story about three young people trying to find their way in the world. It's a bit heavyhanded.

All the whining done, it's actually pretty good.